This week I had the opportunity to coach someone through the sometimes difficult process of an “exit interview”. This particular meeting was going to be difficult for the person leading the meeting due to the circumstances and some advice was needed on how to have a constructive meeting.

After asking some questions, and talking through the responses, I “wrote the prescription” that follows as my advice.

1. Communicate at the beginning of the meeting the time limit for the meeting- set an expectation for everyone. (There was a history of long meetings and lots of conversation) My suggestion was 30 minutes.
2. Be sure to have the questions written down that you would like to ask, and limit your self to only three questions. Have an agenda and follow it.
3. Let the person you are interviewing know that you need to reserve some time at the end to share a few things.
4. Be prepared to thank the person for EVERY comment that they make, even the ones you disagree with.
5. Don’t get bogged down on issues at the expense of not getting through the agenda.
6. Take notes and ask your questions at the end based on the time remaining.
7. Use a “start, stop, continue” approach for your questions- What should we start doing, what should we stop doing, what should we continue doing? Using this approach makes the person consider the good, not just the bad.
8. Wrap up the meeting by sharing anything that you feel must be shared, and end the meeting on time.
9. Recap your notes to anyone required shortly after the meeting while it is fresh on your mind.

Exit interviews are not always easy, and often don’t happen. We can use these situations as an opportunity to grow, or not, it’s entirely up to us.

As we wrap up 2019 and move toward 2020, it’s time to reflect and consider what we would like     to accomplish in the new year. As I think over the past year here are some questions I am asking myself-

• Who am I? And what do I want people to know about me? We all have a story to share, and when we share it, we can connect with other people in new ways. What is the story I want to share in 2020?
• How will I share my story? Will I invest more time face to face with the people I most want to connect with? Will I do a better job connecting by phone with those who may not live close by? Do I use social media to share my story?
• What have I done well in the past year? Where have I seen growth and positive change?
• What have I struggled with? Where are the big opportunities for change in my life? What or who have I been avoiding?
• Where did 2019 go? How have I been spending my time in productive ways? And maybe some ways that are less productive? Does my time reflect my priorities?
• Do I have healthy margin in my life? Unplanned time to just “be”?
• A year from now what changes do I want to see in my life? What steps do I take to get there?

There is so much to think about and consider, don’t you think? I find myself clearly seeing a need to take a step back and carve out some open time just to think, and perhaps journal some of my thoughts.

I think that is for me probably the biggest change I need to make in the new year- taking time to work on me, rather than being so busy all the time.

What about you?

Leave your comments below

As I am working each day in my business role, I am encouraged by the sense that our management team members are beginning to connect more and more to one another and have a shared vision.

As a result, I am seeing more and more teamwork and stronger relationships among the team. I think one reason this is happening because our management team members feel valued and appreciated. I celebrate that progress.

The next step will be to cascade that feeling of being valued to your team members as they interact with each other. How?

Ask yourself that question- HOW can YOU make others feel valued and appreciated? And HOW can you then teach them to do the same?

I promise you that your staffing and retention challenge will get smaller at the same pace that you improve in this area.

• Greet people when they come to work- do they know you are glad to see them?
• Thank people for the little things- and the big things.
• Smile at your team members- smile at your team members- smile at your team members……
• When you have to talk to someone about an issue, think about it, and develop your words to match the outcome you are working for. Know where you want to end up before you start the conversation.
• Make constructive critical conversations short but caring
• Include the idea that you value the person in EVERY conversation
• Make it okay to make mistakes and screw up- by the way you respond to the issue
• Choose to respond- not react
• Value people by treating them well- even when they mess up.

Last thing- remember that you were once significantly less capable than your are today- and how did you get to where you are? Someone invested in you!

We are all on our way somewhere and our choices and decisions will either help us get there- or slow us down…..

If you have spent much time working in the business world, you have heard the phrase “company culture”. This isn’t exclusive to the business world, and you often hear the phrase in the non profit sector, in churches, and anywhere else where people are a central focus. Some of my thoughts apply to all of those, and some don’t.

Culture is not what you say, it is what you do.

Often there are endless amounts of communication, vision statements, posters, etc. designed to create “culture”. But all the words and posters mean nothing if there are not actions that back them up. As leaders in any environment where we want to create culture, people will watch what we do, long after they have heard what we have to say. So, we have to be intentional about giving our values real substance that our teams can feel on a regular basis.

Hire for culture.

If we hire people that already reflect our culture, then the desired culture grows in a healthy and natural way. With very little input or coaching, people who “get it”, just do things each day that line up with the culture we want in our space. When we hire people that don’t reflect our culture, we introduce conflict and create tension between the desired culture and the people in our circle.

Value culture.

When we value something, our actions show that it is important to us. The amount of time and energy invested is proportionate to how we value it. We have to teach culture, live culture, and make decisions based on culture. When we as leaders choose things in opposition to our culture, we are sending a message that what we value and how it relates to our culture has changed. Keep the two in alignment.

Reading this week, I came across this idea that I see as a valuable life principle. I want to share it because it has value in so many different ways.

Don’t focus your energy on all the reasons you have to quit, to give up, to throw in the towel. Instead, focus on the one reason you can find to keep going.

This has application in relationships, in your work, in finishing well at whatever you start.

It is easy as a leader to forget that being a leader is both a privilege and a responsibility.

Webster defines Stewardship as “the activity or job of protecting and being responsible for something”. When you are a leader, you have a stewardship that you have been given.

You have a duty of care on multiple levels.

You must care for the PEOPLE that you lead, the THINGS that are under your care, and the NEEDS of the larger organization that you are a part of as well. These are the measurements that define your leadership. What does that look like?

For me, it means that I have to constantly remind myself that I need to speak into the lives of the people that I lead – first by getting to know them, understanding who they are, and what makes them “tick”.  Then I have a responsibility to lead them in a way that modifies my leadership based on what I have learned.

With regard to the things under my stewardship, I have to role model for others the care that I want to see in them. I cannot ignore the responsibility that I have to leave things better than I find them as I lead.

And for the good of the organization, I must act in favor of the greater organization by knowing and understanding the needs, and casting a vision to meet those needs. Then, I have to go work to help do whatever I can to facilitate and lift things to the next level.

I have been thinking recently about the role that leaders play in either developing followers or developing leaders.

Whether you lead a department, a business, a non profit, or a church the issue of “who” becomes very important. Who is going to take on that new project? Who is going to be the next leader? Who is going to fill that role?

What I have noticed most often is that leaders who develop other leaders always select better people to start with, and because of that they have a deeper “bench” to choose from.

So remember to choose carefully. It will impact everything in your business.Posted by Doug